Funding will establish MIT professorship and support low-carbon
energy and climate initiatives

June 21, 2017 06:34 PM Eastern Daylight Time

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Building on a shared commitment to driving innovation and education in
energy and climate solutions, MIT President L. Rafael Reif and Iberdrola
Chairman and CEO Ignacio S. Galán met on MIT’s campus to renew and
significantly expand the collaboration between the Institute and the
global power company.

The $10.3 million, five-year collaboration aims to advance technologies
and policies that contribute to the energy transition and the fight
against climate change, supporting numerous efforts through the MIT
Energy Initiative (MITEI) and related MIT initiatives.

“Climate change and the policies created to address it have significant
implications for businesses—it will fundamentally change products,
services, and operating models,” says Galán. “Successful companies need
to actively seek the opportunities a clean economy creates. Iberdrola
constitutes a perfect example of the potential of the electricity
sector. The company is a world leader in renewable energies, which
represent almost 60 percent of Iberdrola’s mix, and we plan to reduce
further our carbon dioxide emission intensity by at least 50 percent by
2030. MIT, one of the world's leading idea incubators, is the perfect
research collaborator to deliver the technologies and solutions that
will lead us towards a clean energy future.”

“Strong industry collaborations are critical to achieving MIT's vision
for a clean energy future,” says Reif. “By pairing the excellence of
MIT's researchers with Iberdrola's embrace of clean energy
infrastructure, we have an exciting opportunity to make important
contributions to address climate change. We look forward to working with
our Iberdrola colleagues to identify critical solutions to this complex
global challenge.”

Iberdrola will benefit from MIT’s advanced platform for research,
development, and technological innovation to educate the workforce
needed to build and operate tomorrow’s energy systems. The company also
aims to achieve a competitive advantage by systematically improving its
business performance and anticipating future market trends. The
agreement reinforces the three main objectives that shape Iberdrola’s
program with academic institutions: knowledge transfer, talent
attraction, and contribution to the company’s social dividend.

The agreement includes $5 million in funding to create the
Iberdrola-AVANGRID professorship at MIT, dedicated to research and
education in power systems engineering. Both MIT and Iberdrola recognize
the urgent need to upgrade and modernize electricity infrastructure in
the U.S. and globally, transforming power systems and creating the
“utilities of the future.” To meet these challenges, industry and
governments will need a new generation of young professionals ready to
discover and implement innovative energy solutions. In addition to the
professorship, Iberdrola is making a robust commitment to fund energy
education opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students through
MITEI. The agreement also includes training for Iberdrola Group
employees as well as fellowships and internships at Iberdrola worldwide
operating companies for MIT energy engineering students.

Iberdrola will become a sustaining member of MITEI, committing $5
million over five years to advance key technologies and policies for
addressing climate change. As part of its MITEI membership, Iberdrola
will join MITEI’s Low-Carbon Energy Center for Electric Power Systems,
the mission of which is to enable the efficient evolution of the
electric grid and the electric power sector. It is one of eight
collaborative low-carbon energy research centers announced in 2015 as
part of MIT’s Plan for Action on Climate Change, a vital component of
which is to deepen engagement with industry, government, and the
philanthropic community to develop climate solutions. The energy
education commitment is also part of this sustaining membership. As
another element of its membership, Iberdrola will contribute to MITEI’s
Seed Fund to support early-stage energy research at MIT.

Through the agreement, Iberdrola will also expand its support of the
Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research and will conduct
sponsored research through the Joint Program on the Science and Policy
of Global Change.

To support energy entrepreneurship, the company will provide $300,000 to
the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund Program, which connects MIT
undergraduate and graduate students with tailored educational
experiences and mentoring, and provides students with funding to start
up innovative projects or entrepreneurial initiatives.

This expanded collaboration follows Iberdrola’s multi-year sponsorship
of MITEI’s Utility of the Future study and the corresponding report
released in December 2016. The study—which MITEI conducted with Spain’s
Institute for Research in Technology at Comillas Pontifical University
(IIT-Comillas)—highlighted emerging trends in the electric power sector,
where decarbonization, digitization, renewable energies and energy
storage will continue to define the industry and determine a more
flexible and efficient consumption of energy.

About Iberdrola: Iberdrola is one of the world’s largest
utilities and the European leader in renewable energy production. We
produce and provide energy to over 100 million people around the world,
mostly in UK, USA, Mexico, Brazil and Spain. We believe that fighting
climate change and investing in a low-carbon economy makes good business
sense. Our commitment to sustainability features prominently on indexes
such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Carbon Disclosure Project
and FTSE4Good.

Iberdrola runs its own University Program designed to reinforce the
company’s link with top academic institutions worldwide while creating a
global community that fosters collaboration, entrepreneurial culture and
the transfer of knowledge. To date, five institutions of excellence have
been selected, namely MIT, Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), and the
universities of Strathclyde (UK) Comillas and Salamanca (Spain).

About MITEI: The MIT Energy Initiative is MIT’s hub for
multidisciplinary energy research, education, and outreach. Through
these three pillars, MITEI helps develop the technologies and solutions
that will deliver clean, affordable, and plentiful sources of energy.
Founded in 2006, MITEI’s mission is to advance low- and no-carbon
emissions solutions that will efficiently meet growing global energy
needs while minimizing environmental impacts, dramatically reducing
greenhouse gas emissions, and mitigating climate change. MITEI engages
with industry and government through its Low-Carbon Energy Centers,
comprehensive reports to inform decision makers, and other
multi-stakeholder research initiatives. Additional information is
available at energy.mit.edu.

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